The Namesake

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri is a bildungsroman that involves an array of themes and related symbols. The story centers on our protagonist, Gogol Ganguli, the son of Ashima Ganguli and Ashoke Ganguli, both of which are immigrants from Bengal. The story is set throughout the span of Gogol’s life, where he struggles to accept the name he was given. He rejected his good name in school and changed his legal name before going off to college. In the end, after learning the significance of his name, he learns to love and accept his name. Throughout the story, many symbols are introduced and all of them relate to a major theme of the story. Names, trains, and food are three of the symbols mentioned throughout the novel that relate to nostalgia and

family.
Gogol’s grandmother had sent a letter to Ashima and Ashok containing a letter with a girl name and a boy name for their child.

‘Though the letter was sent a month ago, in July, it has yet to arrive’ (Ch.2, pg.25), and during the span of Gogol’s life, has still yet to arrive. The letter not arriving on time leads to Gogol being named by his parents. For some, a name might seem like an assortment of letters, used to give a human some sort of identity in the world, no matter our name, some people always felt rather neutral about their given name. Gogol on the other hand, feels like he is an outlier in the world, his unique name, derived from Nikolai Gogol, the Russian author who wrote ‘The Overcoat’, causes this feeling of hatred towards his name, despite the emotional story that comes from his dad choosing the name. During a class, he learns of the real Gogol and realizes that ‘not only does Gogol Ganguli have a pet name turned good name, but a last name turned first name. And so it occurs to him that no one he knows in the world, in Russia or India or America or anywhere, share his name. Not even the source of his namesake.’ This feeling alone drives Gogol’s dislike for his name. Despite the dislike of his name, Gogol learns that the reason he was given his name was because the book that saved his father was written by Gogol. In the novel, names show a connection to family and nostalgia, because Gogol’s name is a constant reminder to Ashok of the train accident he was in, and

just how important the real Gogol was to him.
Trains are a way for people to get from one place to another and are used to connect different places together. They also show constant movement and readjustments. In The Namesake, many things, both good and bad, happen on trains. The most important event on the train, is the train accident that Ashok was involved in. Having been up late reading, Ashok survived the train crash and the book he was reading, ‘The Overcoat’ by Nikolai Gogol, saved his life, and lead to his son being named Gogol. In the story, trains are tied in with the theme of nostalgia. Even a few years after the train accident, Ashoke ‘tried but failed to push the images’ (Ch.1, pg.21) from the accident away. ‘It’s not the memory of the pain that haunts him; he has no memory of that’ (Ch.1, pg.21), shows that Ashoke still looks back at that event on the train with some type of nostalgia. Later in the novel, Ashima is out buying gifts for the family that is coming to visit and accidently leaves her bags on the train. This event relates the train to the feeling of family and its importance. In the span of the novel, many events take place on the train, but the characters also take to train to visit each other once all of them have moved on to their own lives. This relates the train as a whole to the themes of nostalgia and family.
In the beginning of the novel, we are introduced to Ashima while she is making a mixture of Rice Krispies, Planters peanuts, and chopped red onion.

Her attempt of this snack is ‘a humble approximation of the snack sold for pennies on Calcutta sidewalks and on railway platforms throughout India’ (Ch.1, pg.1). This food, along with the other foods mentioned in the novel, all remind Ashima of her home back in Calcutta. A little later in the novel, Gogol’s annaprasan involves his consumption of his first solid food. Much like the baptism of Christian child, the annaprasan is a major and formal ceremony for Bengali children. Food is not only used as a way to connect one to their family, but also to their own culture. Food is a big symbol, in the way that food seems to be an important item in order to preserve the Bengali culture in the Ganguli household, since they are all so far from India. The novel also ends with us observing Ashima making croquettes, and reminiscing of the past with her children Gogol and Sonia. The mention of all the traditional food, not only shows us how important food is in order to connect them all to their culture and home, but also shows us just how important the Gangualis mean to each other, even if they didn’t show it earlier in the novel. Food is therefore, tied to the two themes of family and

nostalgia.
Names, trains, and food, are all symbols in The Namesake and all relate to the two themes of nostalgia and family. Names are a frequent mention in the book that shows how Ashok feels he owes his life to Nikolai Gogol after the train accident he survived. Trains are used through the book in terms of transportation or are mentioned in a life even one of the characters experience. Lastly, food is used in the very beginning of the story to introduce us to how homesick and nostalgic Ashima is and how Ashima and Ashok still carry the Bengali traditions from their personal families to the one they created together. All these symbols together give the novel it’s strong backbone about family and the past.